Pattern

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There are artworks from famous printmakers inside, along with information about the artist and the art movement they were part of. I think that gives us a starting point for a discussion of social context, and I think Orla’s work will become a kind of reference for a certain period in time when it’s viewed in 50 or 100 years from now,” the curator explains. Influenced by the optimism of the 1960s, the colour palette of her Irish childhood, and Scandi-style mid-century design, Kiely’s designs
have stood the test of time and generated mass appeal that chimes with our love of anything retro and vintage. This may explain the atmosphere that's artfully conjured in many of Kiely's advertising campaigns, an aesthetic that's reminiscent of the world ­depicted by Hanif Kureishi in The Buddha of Suburbia.

She absorbs things and then she filters them so that they come out in a very Orla Kiely way that’s all about her vision,” Nothdruft explains. Her obsession with repeat patterns is a trait that her youngest son, Hamish, 14, seems to have inherited, too. As proof, just consider the fact that in the 15 years she has employed childcare (her two sons, Robert and Hamish, are now 16 and 14 respectively) Orla has only ever had two nannies, one of whom now works in her head office in Clapham. Using a potato as a stamp, this resource guides pupils through all the stages of the creation process, while allowing them to make independent decisions about their pattern, design and colour. Of course, it’s all very well having fabulous celebrities looking fabulous in your designs, but what if someone doesn’t quite wear it so well?For any designer, the moment one of your designs becomes an immediately identifiable signature is a defining one. I remember seeing a woman who had one of the first felt bags that we made, and I went up to her and said ‘That’s my bag! With this new range of statement dresses, sweats, raincoats and quilted jackets, you can layer up or layer down for any outdoor occasion. I imagine her to be a creative-spirited woman, who’s not following fashion, but is following her own instinct, someone who appreciates that less-is-more simplicity,” she says.

She’s very popular in Asia, because what she does is seen as quite cute in places like Japan and Korea, whereas in New York City it’s seen as contemporary but charming in a way that’s appealing to professional women, who see it as being feminine without being fussy or twee. And we’re going into the fun side of eyewear in the autumn and there are lots of new lifestyle products in the pipeline. Kiely qualified as a textile designer at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and moved to New York to work for a wallpaper and fabric designer. Cutting-edge patterns: Kiely's unique designs have made her interiors label a massive global brand".From its first incarnation more than a decade ago, the Stem, in myriad hues, has decorated handbags and homeware, dresses and duvet covers, even yoga mats. KS1 All About Orla Kiely Fact File - This eye-catching Fact File, aimed at KS1 pupils, is a great resource to use while exploring colour and pattern.

With a collection that spans across fashion, homeware, kitchenware, furniture and much more, you can add a pop of colour throughout your home. Importantly, at the heart of each of these examples is a holistic approach to design as a way of life, from the small scale of the spoon to the breadth of an entire city as Italian architect Ernesto Rogers once proclaimed, but they are also projects that are inextricably connected with joy. I do like small, and also huge – you can vary the gaps on different products and I love funny everyday things and how you can stylise motifs or elements – an animal, a car, a flower – swap it around and make them into a pattern. Deceptively simple, it’s tricky to define what it is about the Stem that so captured the imagination. Last year, Orla was awarded the OBE for services to fashion (“very unexpected, but very nice,” she says) and her Stem design has graced the Irish stamp, alongside other contemporary fashion designers, including Paul Costelloe, John Rocha and Philip Treacy.When he was small, he loved those little wooden prism kaleidoscopes, where you see everything in endless repeat. The business empire, which Kiely runs with her husband, Dermott Rowan, from a small office and two boutiques in London, has not only earned the designer export awards and industry accolades, but she has even been immortalised on an Irish 82-cent stamp, the type most often used for first-class overseas mail. Her very first collection of signature handbags turned the fashion world on its head, displaying a new sense of freshness and optimism. After school she applied to the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland’s oldest art institution and “the only one in those days. In the flesh, she is warm and personable, with a soft Dublin accent and a distinct look that betrays her Celtic heritage with her pale complexion, auburn hair and a hint of freckles.